Reluctance to pass RTI bill worrying

Accountability and fear of transparency have been described by many as the reason for the lack of enthusiasm on the part of successive governments to pass the Right to Information(RTI) Bill which has been in and out of Parliament for more than a decade.

Though the relevance of the Bill cannot be overemphasized, the implications for not passing a law for citizens' right to information are indications that successive governments are afraid of transparency and accountability in their affairs.

The Right to Information Bill drafted over ten years ago and designed in accordance with Article (1) (f) of the1992 Constitution of Ghana gives the Ghanaian public the right to access official information which is held by a government agency.

The bill which was proposed in 1998 has still not been passed for over a decade though the country has changed governments four times.

Operating behind a thick curtain of official secrecy, public servants and political heads of Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies have displayed incredible reluctance to release to researchers, media practitioners and citizens official information considered vital and in the public interest.

Ghanaians need the law to enable them expose many acts of corruption, illegality and immorality in public affairs that has bedeviled the country and to ensure that there is openness in public affairs at all time.

The Right to Information Law will provide a strong incentive against corruption. It will scare off corrupt officials. It may not change those who have chosen to be corrupt, but it will help to expose them and deter others. Today, in our country and probably in many other places, a major challenge in the fight against corruption is the availability of evidence.

Governments respond to demands for the prosecution of perceived corrupt officials by claiming a lack of evidence. Lack of evidence actually means lack of information. When we pass the RTI Bill into law it will help citizens and journalists to access official information that might help in detecting and/or prosecuting corruption. The Law will seek to prevent the destruction of documents so that those caught burning official documents can be brought to book.

It is important to note that access to information formed the oxygen of democracy and Ghana must follow the examples of the 11 African countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Guinea and Zimbabwe that had all passed the freedom of information laws.

Even though President John Dramani Mahama has indicated on countless occasions his readiness to accent the bill and make it enforceable the very day it is brought before him information gathered by Public Agenda as per our lead- story, points to the fact that the bill may not go through this year.

RTI law, according to anti- graft campaigners would at least provide the citizenry an instrument to make the appropriate demands to know what exists and what happens on issues that affects their lives and also promote democratic interests and rights.

We of Public Agenda still wonder why the passage of the bill had delayed for the past 15 good years and we fear the bill might not be passed anytime soon.

Public Agenda therefore, urges civil society groups and organisations, students, professional associations and religious bodies to add their voices to the call for the passage of the RTI Bill.

Given this crucial relevance of the Bill, Parliament should endeavour to undertake an elaborate public sensitization and consultations before passing the RTI Bill into law. And when passed into Law, Government should ensure that there is adequate infrastructure to support effective implementation of this all important law.